This is Part Two of a three part series.  See Part One here.

When we went gluten-free, I began to realize how unbalanced our dinners had become.  Chicken pot pie, for example, was mostly a cream sauce and crust (both have gluten), with a little bit of chicken and vegetables thrown in.  Chicken and dumplings… pretty much the same thing.  Pizza, mostly crust.  Spaghetti, mostly noodles.  In fact, a lot of our meals were mostly pasta.  Pasta is an easy and cheap way to feed a family.  Unfortunately, it’s not so cheap when it’s gluten-free.  And if you’re trying to lose weight, it should be one of the first things to go!  (Right after fudge.)

So, we became a Meat And Potatoes kind of family.  Chicken, fish, and beef made up the majority of our suppers, with sides of vegetables and potatoes to give us our carbs.  We were finally filling our daily quota of protein, and it felt good!  And I realize that “chicken, fish, and beef” may strike you as boring when the old normal was “chicken pot pie” and “chicken and dumplings” and the like.  But there are so many different ways to eat “chicken, fish, and beef”!  Using this tip, I would baste salmon in a honey mustard sauce and coat with a crispy, buttery, herby crumb topping and bake.  Shredded beef barbecue doesn’t need buns; it tastes just as good on a fork.  Pot roasts saw a come back in our house, the likes of which haven’t been seen since 1940.  Tacos, taco salads, nachos, enchiladas, fajitas… most Mexican food is naturally gluten-free and therefore was a regular on our table.

Lunches were a bit harder, but not much.  Instead of a sandwich with lunch meat on it for the kids, I just gave them the lunch meat.  They didn’t complain.  Peanut butter and jelly went on rice cakes instead of bread.  I did spring for gluten-free macaroni and cheese once a week.  (We had a tradition of Mondays being Noodle Day.  It was their favorite food; Monday was their least favorite day.  It was a good compromise.)  Quesadillas were made from corn tortillas instead of flour (but they are still very cheap!).  Overall, it was a very possible transition.

Breakfast was much more difficult.  It is typically a very wheat-heavy meal.  Most cereals have wheat or oats as their first ingredient.  Even those made with rice have barley malt in them.  About 3/4 the way through our year, Chex came out when some gluten-free varieties and that made us very happy.  Prior to that, we spent way too much money on gluten-free cereals found in the specialty aisles at Kroger.  I had found a perfect rice-flour pancake recipe, but that was pretty much only for Saturday mornings.  So our typical breakfast was either a quick dish of eggs, or some sort of Chex cereal.

Shortly after finding the gluten free Chex, however, I became convicted (ahem… reminded) about how unhealthy cereal, in general, is for you.  Even if it isn’t mostly sugar, most of the nutrients that are added are destroyed in the processing.

So we went to oatmeal.  There is such a thing as gluten-free oatmeal.  In fact, some people with gluten sensitivities can even handle regular oatmeal in smaller quantities.  We went the gluten-free route, just to be safe.  However, we could only find the packets of instant oatmeal, at a price of around $5 for only 6 packets!  I looked around on Amazon.com and found 32oz bags of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats for the same price.  I had to buy in bulk, but I was okay with that.  Nine cups in a bag and two cups cooked fed our family of five for two mornings.  Definitely a better buy.  To make it more digestible and faster-cooking, I soaked it overnight in lemon juice and water.

But I feel I have cheated eggs, sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns out of their rightful place at breakfast.  I generally don’t go all out for breakfast (as much as I would love to), because Josh leaves the house before the children are awake.  So either he would not get breakfast or the children would have to eat it cold.  Or I suppose I could wake up the children, but that just goes against every grain in my body. Therefore our weekday breakfasts consist of oatmeal (which is excellent reheated), toast, or eggs.  Saturday mornings I’m more likely to go all out.  Sunday mornings, well, we’re all up at the same time, but in too big of a rush for anything other than leftover oatmeal.  Even then, we’re usually 10 minutes late to church.

Details and recipes for soaked oatmeal can be found in Part Three!  And after this series is over, I’ll be sure to sporadically post our favorite gluten-free dinner recipes.  And, of course, pancakes.